Do More Electrical Problems Lurk Under The Seaside Boardwalk?[VIDEO]

As Superstorm Sandy gets the blame for helping to cause the massive boardwalk fire in Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, there's concern about what other electrical issues lurk under the boardwalk.

Electrical work on the boardwalk (WPIX TV)

"I'm sure on every boardwalk everywhere (at the Jersey shore), there may be compromised wiring," Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said at Tuesday's press conference in Toms River announcing the conclusions of a task force investigating the blaze. "We don't want to start a panic mode; we just want to be reasonable. If you're a property owner and you think your electrical work came in contact with water and sand, we strongly recommend you have it inspected."

Seaside Heights Mayor William Akers, reached after the briefing, said there is no issue with potentially compromised wiring on the surviving sections of the boardwalk. "We did a total rebuild. All 16 blocks got all new wiring," he said.

In Point Pleasant Beach, one of the approximately half-dozen Sandy-ravaged towns where businesses with electrical connections are located on the boardwalk, Mayor Vincent Barrella said streetlight wiring is all new in a section of the boardwalk that was rebuilt last winter.

But he said about half the boardwalk, including sections in front of businesses, still needs to be redone this winter. After the prosecutor issued his warning, Barrella said he instructed borough officials to work with the local electric company and identify any wiring that might need to be replaced as part of the upcoming work.

Flood-damaged wiring caused fires in several houses in Sandy-damaged communities once power was turned back on last November. Many homeowners had to replace their electrical wiring and main electrical boxes before moving back in.

Jersey Central Power & Light spokesman Scott Surgeoner says his company "will begin an immediate investigation and work with state, county and local officials to confirm ownership of the cable referred to today and determine the cause of the fire." They were not part of the task force formed by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

How The Fire Started A Mystery

Investigators said last week's fire began in wiring that dated to the 1970s, and was located under a Kohr's frozen custard stand and the Biscayne Candies shop last Thursday afternoon.

Jessica Gotthold, a senior special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said investigators located wires under the boardwalk that somehow came in contact with each other, causing an electrical arc that is believed to have started the fire. Coronato said those wires had been exposed to the storm surge and grating sand action of the storm, which compromised them.

But as far as why the wires contacted each other, he said, "we will never know."

The prosecutor said the investigation ruled out all other possible causes of the fire, including careless smoking or a deliberate act of arson. The wiring was inaccessible to the public, he noted.

Authorities even pulled financial records of the businesses involved in the blaze to make sure no one had a financial motive to start a fire.

"We left no stone unturned," he said. "This was not a suspicious fire."